On April 2, the Delta College baseball team showed little mercy on the Diablo Valley College Vikings with a 10-4 beat down at Nick Cecchetti Field.
The Mustangs to swing during the Mustangs 10-4 victory on April 2. PHOTO BY ZACHARIAH MERCES-SPINDLER
Entering Saturday’s matchup, the Mustangs sat within striking distance of first place in the Big 8 conference with a 19-5 record and looked to take advantage of a struggling Vikings team who remain near the cellar at 12-12.
In the bottom of the first, the Mustangs jumped all over Vikings’ starter, freshman Austin Cannedy, as he helped the Mustangs by committing a balk, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch in fueling the Mustangs’ four run first inning.
“To come out, four nothing, put the pressure on them, puts a lot of pressure on their pitcher, getting on the pitcher is big, getting to their pen early is huge,” said freshman standout Carlos Moseley on the team’s early offense.
Cannedy’s day ended about as fast as it started as he pitched a total of one inning, giving five hits, four earned runs and eventually getting the loss.
“Obviously our starter today was terrible, pretty even game after that but give Delta credit man, I mean they come out ready to play and in the first inning they put it to us,” said Vikings Head Coach Steve Ward.
Without the four-run first inning, the game may have ended differently as Delta’s starter, freshman Nick Frank, struggled keeping Diablo Valley off the base paths.
Frank’s outing earned him the win but it wasn’t pretty as he lasted five innings, allowing nine hits and two earned runs.
Coming in relief in the top of the sixth inning freshman Lucas Vaughn looked to rebound off of a poor performance in his last outing when he allowed five runs in three innings in a 20-8 loss to Cosumnes River college on March 24.
Vaughn’s struggles continued allowing three hits, two earned runs and getting only one out before being replaced by Sophomore Joey Cafesse.
Once Head Coach Reed Peters handed the ball to Cafesse, Diablo Valley’s bats went silent getting only two hits in Cafesse’s 3.2 innings of work.
The Mustangs improved to 20-5 to stay close behind first place Santa Rosa Bear Cubs who have a 22-2 record in the Big 8.
Carlos Moseley and freshman Shea Sbranti made big impacts combining for three hits and four Runs Batted In (RBI) and two runs scored.
The Mustangs lost a key contributor in Sophomore Eddie Sievers to a pulled quad muscle.
The severity of the injury was unknown but according to Delta’s head coach Peters, this type of injury tends to last a week or two.